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Stunt plane crashes at air show, killing pilot, wing walker

by Scott Neuman | NPR

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Flames erupt from a plane after it crashed at the Vectren Air Show at the airport in Dayton, Ohio. The crash killed the pilot and stunt walker on the plane instantly, authorities said.
AP Photo/Dayton Daily News, Ty Greenlees

A stunt biplane crashed and burst into flames at an air show in Dayton, Ohio, killing the pilot and a stunt wing walker, authorities said.

A spokeswoman for the Dayton International Airport spokeswoman, Linda Hughes, and Ohio State Highway Patrol Lt. Anne Ralston confirmed the deaths to The Associated Press.

The crash happened at around 12:45 p.m. at the Vectren Air Show near Dayton, the AP says. No spectators were injured.

WHIO-TV, showing footage of the flight and crash, identified the performer as wing walker Jane Wicker. A Facebook page, Jane Wicker Airshows, contains photos of performer. The pilot was not immediately identified.

The video shows the plane do a roll as Wicker is atop the wing. The aircraft that angles into the ground and explodes.

The AP quotes Wicker in an interview with WDTN-TV this week as saying her signature stunt is hanging by her feet underneath the plane and then sitting on the bottom of the inverted wing.

"I'm never nervous or scared because I know if I do everything as I usually do, everything's going to be just fine," she told the television station.